Neoconservatives pushing for World War IV
'Former CIA Director James Woolsey illustrated how extreme this vision really is when he recently told a group of California college students that the United States is engaged in fighting "World War IV," which will "last considerably longer than either World Wars I or II," but hopefully not as long as the Cold War. The enemies in this war, which he unconvincingly presented as a campaign for democracy, are the rulers of Iran, the "fascist" rulers of Iraq and Syria and groups like Al Qaeda.'

'A full scale civil war on the right over foreign policy has broken out in the press, with conservative icons such as columnist Robert Novak trading bitter accusations with overwrought neocons like David Frum, author of the irresponsible "axis of evil" speech. Stalwarts of the first Bush administration such as former Seretary of State James Baker, former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger have been openly trying to steer President Bush away from what one unnamed former senior official called "this bum advice he has been getting" from neocons. Another observed that "The only one who can reach the president is his father but it is not timely yet to talk to him," indicating a plan for a protracted campaign.'

Blair and to a lesser extent Howard have played the criminal and disgraceful role of appeasers of US neo-conservative aggression. The full magnitude of this irresponsibility remains to be seen. Certainly the only thing that may have stopped the aggression against Iraq would have been if Blair had been steadfast with Europe in opposing the US wardrive by all diplomatic means. It seems that, somewhat like after Munich, Blair belatedly realises US unilateral aggression cannot be supported, and thus he has explicitly ruled out a British attack on Syria. The questions for PM John Howard are, will he rule out Australian participation in an attack on Syria? Will he rule out Australian involvement in American preemptive wars? Will he rule out Australian involvement in any war not sanctioned by the UN Security Council?

Neoconservatives pushing for World War IV
'Former CIA Director James Woolsey illustrated how extreme this vision really is when he recently told a group of California college students that the United States is engaged in fighting "World War IV," which will "last considerably longer than either World Wars I or II," but hopefully not as long as the Cold War. The enemies in this war, which he unconvincingly presented as a campaign for democracy, are the rulers of Iran, the "fascist" rulers of Iraq and Syria and groups like Al Qaeda.'

'A full scale civil war on the right over foreign policy has broken out in the press, with conservative icons such as columnist Robert Novak trading bitter accusations with overwrought neocons like David Frum, author of the irresponsible "axis of evil" speech. Stalwarts of the first Bush administration such as former Seretary of State James Baker, former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger have been openly trying to steer President Bush away from what one unnamed former senior official called "this bum advice he has been getting" from neocons. Another observed that "The only one who can reach the president is his father but it is not timely yet to talk to him," indicating a plan for a protracted campaign.'

Blair and to a lesser extent Howard have played the criminal and disgraceful role of appeasers of US neo-conservative aggression. The full magnitude of this irresponsibility remains to be seen. Certainly the only thing that may have stopped the aggression against Iraq would have been if Blair had been steadfast with Europe in opposing the US wardrive by all diplomatic means. It seems that, somewhat like after Munich, Blair belatedly realises US unilateral aggression cannot be supported, and thus he has explicitly ruled out a British attack on Syria. The questions for PM John Howard are, will he rule out Australian participation in an attack on Syria? Will he rule out Australian involvement in American preemptive wars? Will he rule out Australian involvement in any war not sanctioned by the UN Security Council?